Co-ordinating interneurones of the locust which convey two patterns of motor commands: their connexions with flight motoneurones

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Abstract
Some flight motoneurones receive two superimposed rhythms of depolarizing synaptic potentials when the locust is not flying; a slow rhythm which is invariably linked to the expiratory phase of ventilation, and a fast rhythm with a period of about 50 ms which is similar to the wingbeat period in flight. By recording simultaneously from groups of motoneurones, the synaptic potentials which underly these rhythms have been revealed in 30 flight motoneurones in the three thoracic ganglia. The inputs occur in elevator motoneurones and some depressors but are of lower amplitude in the latter. The inputs have not been found in leg motoneurones. The rhythmic depolarizations are usually subthreshold but sum with sensory inputs to evoke spikes in flight motoneurones at intervals equal to or multiples of the wingbeat period in flight. Both rhythms originate in the metathoracic ganglion and are mediated by the same interneurones. They can be adequately explained by supposing that there are two symmetrical interneurones which each make widespread connexions with left and right flight motoneurones in the three ganglia. The slow rhythm is coded in the overall burst of interneurone spikes during expiration and the fast rhythm in the interval between the spikes of a burst.